Device for facilitating the breaking of metallic rails



J E. BUSBY Dec. 13, 1932 DEVICE FOR FACILITATING THE BREAKING OFMETALLIC RAILS Filed Sept. 19, 1951 Patented Dec. 13, 1932 warrenSTATES- PATENT OFFICE JUNIUS E. BUSBY, OF JACKSON, KENTUCKY, ASSIGNOR OFONE-HALF" 'IO BRADLEY COOMER, OF BEATTYVILLE, KENTUCKY DEVICE FORFACILITATING THE BREJEKING OF METALLIC RAILS Application filedSepteinbenIE, 1831. Serial No. 563,884.

This invention relates to the operation of breaking metallic rails,particularly railway rails, and pertains particularly to an improveddevice for facilitating the accomplish ment of this operation.

At the present time the method employed in the cutting and breaking ofrailwayrails is to place beneath each end of the rail which is to bebroken, a pair of angle bars which are placed one upon the other. Therail is located adjacent some fixed body under'which a crowbar may beengaged and as a usualthing it is placed on an adjacent railwaytracknear the fixed rail of the track. vVith the rail tobe broken arranged inthis position notches are cut in the base thereof at the point where therail is to be broken and several laborers a1 then provided with crowbarswhich are dis posed across the rail adjacent the notch with the endsthereof beneath the ball of the fixed track rail. Weight 'is thenapplied to the crowbars so that the center of the rail therebeneath willbe bent down and caused to break transversely at the point where thecuts were made with a track chisel. This method is unsatisfactory forthe reason that it is extremely difficult to maintain the rail n placeupon the supporting angle bars even though men may be placed at each endthereof to hold the rail against movement. In addition to this itfrequently happens that the men holding the rail are injured when itslips from position.

The primary objectof the present invention is to overcome thedifficulties above set forth by the provision of a novel type of supportor cradle for the ends of the rail which is being cut or broken, bymeans of which the said rail is firmly held in the proper position withrespect to the fixed or track rail, for the application of the necessarypressure thereto by the crowbars of the track laborers.

Another object of the invention is to provide a rail supporting devicefor the purpose described, which may be readily coupled with the fixedtrack rail with which it maintains connection while in use.

A still further object of the invention is to provide a rail supportingdevice for the purpose above set forth which is so designed as tofacilitate the turning of the rail which is being operated upon, whensuch turning 1S necessary.

The invention will be best understood from a consideration of thefollowing detailed description taken in connection with the accompanyingdrawing forming part of this specification, with the understanding,however, that the invention is not confined to any strict conformitywith the showing of the drawing but'may be changed or=modified so longas such changes or modifications mark no material departure from thesalient. features of the invention as expressed in the appended claims.

In the drawing s Figure 1 illustrates the application of a pair ofsupporting devices to a fixed track rail showing in dotted positionthereon, the rail which is to be broken and the position of the crowbarsthrough which pressure is applied thereto;

Figure 2 is an enlarged view in top plan of the supporting device; V

Figure-3 is a view of the supporting device in side elevation showingthe relation which it assumes to a track rail g1 Figure 4 is a view inside elevation of a slightly modified form of the device shown in Figure3. e

Referring now more particularly to the drawing wherein like numerals ofreference indicate corresponding parts throughout the several views, thenumeral 1 indicates gen-.

erally the rail supporting device embodying the present invention. Thisdevice comprises an elongated base 2 which is preferably of wood andwhich has the bottom surface at one end cut awayto form the inclinedshoulder 3 which, when the base is placed upon a track tie, will overliethe adjacent flange of the adjacent track rail.

To the top surface of the base 2, there is secured the body 4 which ispreferably formed of an elongated strip of strap iron which has astraight central portion 5 which is secured to the top surface of thebase by bolts or other suitable securing elements which are indicated bythe numeral 6. One end of the body 4 extends beyond the end of the basein which the shoulder 3 is formed and is formed to provide thedownturned hook portion 7 which lies beyond the adjacent end of the base2 as is clearly shown in Figure 3. This hook stands up beyond the planeof the top surface of the base 2 so that it may readily engage over theball of the fixed track rail without preventing the base from restinfirmly upon the underlying tie. r

p The fixed track ra'l referred to is indicated by the numeral 8 and thesupporting ties therefor are indicated by the numeral 9.

At the opposite end of the straight central portion 5 of the body 4 fromthe hook 7, the body is bent to form the straight vertical wall portion10, the rearwardly and upwardly inclined portion 11 which forms anintegral continuation thereof, and the downwarc ly directed andrearwardly inclined brace terminal portion 12 and which, of course,forms a continuation of the inclined portion 11. The end edge of thisterminal portion 12 is sunk into the base 2 as indicated at 13.

In the use of the present device for the purpose of breaking the rail ata point substantially midway between its ends, two of the devices areemployed, each being placed upon a track tie as illustrated in Figure 1.The rail to be broken, which is shown in dotted lines and indicatedbythe numeral 14, has its base notched at the point where it is to bebroken and it is then placed upon. its side across the supports 1,resting upon the fiat central portions 5 thereof. The notched portion ofthe rail is located between the supports 1. After the rail 14 has beenplaced in the position described upon the supports, a pressure isapplied downwardly to the rail upon opposite sides of the notch thereinby means of crowbars which are disposed across the rail to have theirends engaged beneath the ball of the adjacent fixed rail 8. Thepositions of su h crowbars are shown in dotted lines in Figures 1 and 3and the bars are indicated by the numerals 15.

WVhile only two crowbars have been illustrated it will, of course, beunderstood that a larger number may be employed and in a majority ofcases a greater number than two would be necessary. WVith the crowbarsin the positions shown, a strong downward pressure can be exerted uponthe rail 14 to cause the rail to bend and snap at the point where thenotches have been cut with a chisel.

In Figure 4: there is illustrated a modified form of the supports shownin Figures 1 to .3 inclusive. This support which is indicated generallyby the numeral 16 is of exactly the same design as the support 1, withthe exception that the base 17 thereof is of materially less height thanthe base '2 of the first mentioned form. This modified form of supportis employed with one of the first mentioned supports for the breaking ofa rail at a point near one end. In this connection the rail is placedover the two supports, that is the first described or full size support,and the second support, in the same manner as described when breaking a.rail in the center and using two of the first size supports. With thesmall support the rail to be broken may be placed closer to the fixedtrack rail and a greater leverage can be had and more power ful pressureapplied thereto than would be possible when using the two largesupports.

From the foregoing description it will be readily seen that by the useof the supporting device herein described the rail 14 which is to bebroken may be firmly held in position while this operation is beingperformed.

The book 7 of each of the supports is engaged over the ball or tread ofthe fixed track rail 8 and the rail 14 is located at the proper distancefrom the fixed track rail for obtaining the greatest amount of pressurethereon bythe use of the crowbars 15 and as will be seen upon referenceto Figure 3, the straight wall portion of the body 4, which is behindthe rail 14 will effectively prevent the rail from moving while thebreaking operation is in progress.

The inclined brace leg 12 at the rear end of the body 4 serves toeffectively brace the vertical wall 10 and the inclined wall portion 11operates when the rail 14 is turned over, when it is necessary to applypressure to the opposite side, to facilitate this turning as the portionof the rail striking on this inclined wall will slip off, thus causingthe rail to move back into the area disposed between the ends or thestraight or cradle portion 5 of the support.

Having thus described the invention what is claimed is 1. In asupporting device of the character described, a body having a flat areain which an elongated piece of work may rest, means located at one sideof said area for coupling the body with an adjacent fixed member, andmeans at the opposite side of said area from said first means providingan abutment facing the area against which the said piece of work maybear, the said area and means at the two sides thereof being in a lineextending transversely of the piece of work lying across the area.

2. A support for elongated metallic bodies of the character described,comprising an elongated body having a straight portion intermediate itsends, a raised hook forming an integral continuation of the elongatedbody at one end, an abutment wall formed at the opposite end of theelongated body against which a metallic body lying across said centralportion may bear, and a base structure for supporting said body, saidhook member being disposed at a sufiicient elevation above the top ofsaid base for engageinent across the tread of a railway rail when thebase is resting upon a supporting tie.

3. A device for supporting an elongated metallic body in the mannerdescribed, comprising a base, and an elongated body disposed upon saidbase and comprising a straight fiat portion disposed substantiallymidway between its ends, a hook forming one terminus of the body, astraight vertical wall disposed at the opposite end of said straightportion from the hook, an upwardly and rearwardly inclined wall forminga continuation of said straight wall and a downwardly di-' rectedbracing terminal portion forming a continuation of said last mentionedwall and secured to said base.

i. A device for supporting an elongated metallic body in the mannerdescribed, comprising a base, and an elongated body disposed upon saidbase and comprising a straight fiat portion disposed substantiallymidway between its ends, a hook forming one terminus of the body, astraight vertical wall disposed at the opposite end of said straightportion from the hook, an upwardly and rearwardly inclined wall forminga continuation of said straight wall and a downwardly directed bracingterminal portion forming a continuation of said last mentioned wall andsecured to said base, said base having the underface of the end adjacentsaid hook cut away to form an inclined shoulder for dIsposition over thebase flange of a railway rail and said hook being extended beyond thesaid end of the base and disposed at a higher elevation than the topsurface of the base.

5. A supporting device of the character described, for elongatedelements, comprising an elongated body having a straight portionintermediate its ends, a raised hook forming an integral continuation ofthe elongated body at one end, said raised hook being designed forengagement over the tread of a railway rail to position the said body at'ight angles thereto, an abutment wall formed at the opposite end of thestraight portion from the said hook and extending substantiallyperpendicularly to the portion, said abutment wall being designed tohave the elongated element positioned thereagainst when disposedtransversely of the said straight portion, and brace means for saidabutment wall forming an integral continuation of the wall and theterminus of the body.

6. A support for elongated metallic bodies of the character described,comprising an elongated body having a straight portion intermediate itsends which is horizontally disposed when in working position, a hookforming an integral continuation of the elongated body at one end andnormally disposed at an elevation above the straight portion anddirected away from the same for engagement with an adjacent fixed body,and an abutment wall formed at the opposite end of the elonelevationabove the straight portion and directed away from the same forengagement with an adjacent fixed body, an abutment wall formed at theopposite end of the elongated body against which a metallic body lyingacross said central portion may bear, and brace means for said abutment.

In testimony whereof I hereunto aflix my signature.

JUNIUS E. BUSBY.

